Republican says attorney costs coming for redistricting

MADISON — Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says details will be released about how much taxpayers will have to pay for GOP leaders to hire attorneys in an ongoing legal battle over redistricting.

Fitzgerald commented Monday, February 6th after he and other Republicans approved a blank check last week to hire two law firms to prepare an amicus brief for the Legislature. Republicans want the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case.

Fitzgerald says the fee schedule will be spelled out in a letter hiring Paul Clement with the Chicago-based law firm of Kirkland and Ellis as lead attorney. Clement is a leading redistricting attorney nationwide who has argued 85 cases before the Supreme Court.

Fitzgerald says the Legislature needed to hire its own attorneys to have someone argue their side of the case.